Open Source technology can be defined as Computer Software for which the human-readable source code is made available under a copyright License (or arrangement such as the Public Domain) .
Open Source is a development methodology which offers practical accessibility to a product's source (goods and knowledge).
This permits users to use, change, and improve the software, and to redistribute it in modified or unmodified form.

The distribution terms of open-source software must comply with the following criteria:

Free Distribution
Source Code
Derived Works
No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups

Open Vs Closed Software Technology:

Open source software is based around the idea that the user can not only view, but change the source code of an application.
Closed source software is hidden to prevent the user either viewing or changing the code.
After initial production, open source software is released to the development community and undergoes a secondary phase of evolution. It is scrutinised by thousands of professional developers across the globe who highlight potential flaws, bugs and security glitches.
Closed source software is developed in isolation with a small team of developers. It isn't possible to build a team of hundreds to check the code because the code is deemed proprietary and secret.

Advantages of open source technology:

The "Open Source Model" is not a religion. It is a very practical way of develop software in a rapidly changing environment.

Lower total cost of ownership

Reduced dependence on software vendors

open source software gives you the power to control your software's code. You have the right to modify the code to suit your requirements and control the budgets that you want to spend towards it.

Easier to customize

DISADVANTAGE OF OPEN SOURCE TECHNOLOGY

Most open source software applications are not reliable

No guarantee of updates Since you are not paying for the open source software nobody is bound to give you regular updates. You can get stuck with the same old version for years without ever getting an update.

Practical Examples Of Open Source Technology:

The Apache Web Server is the most widely used web server on the Internet. The Apache Software Foundation was formed to provide support Apache an related software.
In addition, the operating system that we run on our website and almost everywhere else is RedHat Linux.
Alongwith internet address system Internet Protocol, and the internet browser Mozilla Forefox.
One of the most successful programs is the Linux operating system, an open source Unix-like operating system.

Companies Opting For Open Source Technology:

Google Chrome source code is available as an open source project called Chromium (BSD license).
Microsoft Corp. this week released the first public beta for its Windows Server 2003 Compute Cluster Edition, which is designed to address the high-performance computing needs of its customers, particularly at the departmental and workgroup levels, and forms part of the Windows Server line of products which is also a open source code
This week Nokia, alogwith hosting company CollabNet, will launch the OSTdev.net Web site where developers can come together to create a wide range of home entertainment software for Nokia's Open Standards Terminal software platform, based on Linux, Xfree and Mozilla.
Linux Entirely is made in open source technology.

Open Source Technology
Open source technology is defined as the production and development philosophy of allowing end users and developers to not only see the source code of software, but modify it as well. The Linux operating system is a one of the best-known examples of open source software technology.
The Linux operating system’s open source paradigm is in direct contrast to Microsoft’s approach to development and production of its popular Windows operating system. Unlike Linux, Windows is built on a closed source paradigm that does not allow the end user the ability to see or edit the code that makes up the operating system. In fact, certain aspects of the end-user license for the Windows operating system specifically forbids the end user from attempting to view or modify the code that makes up the software. Such attempts are often known as reverse engineering or reverse compiling
Although software is not the only product governed by an open source licenses, it is the most popular, lending itself well to manipulation of its code and add-ons. Open source provides a transparent platform upon which anyone with the skills to do so can add to the development and production of the software either for release as a new incarnation of the software for others to use or for strictly in-house development only.
One issue that has come up repeatedly in open source has to do with the copyrights assigned to the original software and any modifications made to it. As outlined in most open source license agreements, ownership of the software can never transfer to anyone who modifies the software. This usually makes it impossible for a developer to take open source software, modify it, and then sell it.

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1. Abstract
Open Source software is perceived as a free alternative to commercial software because no per user or per computer charges are levied. There is now a wide range of Open Source software available including operating systems and applications which in some cases can offer similar functionality to commercial software with no licensing costs. In Part one this paper covers the background and clarifies the terms used in Open Source developments and in Part two, it documents current usage and identifies other factors which need to be considered before selecting an Open Source solution. Open Source and Free software is characterised by the freedoms and constraints imposed by the terms of the licence. For example, the GNU General Public Licence (GPL), developed by the Free Software Foundation in 1989, would grant you the freedom to deploy copies of the software, including customised versions, without incurring any licensing fees. The Free in Free Software refers to the freedom to use the software as you please. Hence, the source code – a human readable form of the program – must be included. (This is the source referred to in Open Source.) When you buy a computer system you are buying the hardware and licensing the software. The licensing terms control what actions can and cannot be performed and most software uses a licence designed to ensure that the creators of materials and resources are acknowledged and rewarded for their work. This gives rise to the standard practice of charging a royalty per user or per device using the software. Open Source software uses a different type of licence aimed at ensuring the software’s development and royalty free distribution. Introduction
Open Source software is perceived as a free alternative to commercial software because no per user or per computer charges are levied. There is now a wide range of Open Source software available including operating systems and applications which in some cases can offer similar functionality to commercial software with no licensing costs. In Part one this paper covers the background and clarifies the terms used in Open Source developments and in Part two, it documents current usage and identifies other factors which need to be considered before selecting an Open Source solution.
When you buy a computer system you are buying the hardware and licensing the software. The licensing terms control what actions can and cannot be performed and most software uses a licence designed to ensure that the creators of materials and resources are acknowledged and rewarded for their work. This gives rise to the standard practice of charging a royalty per user or per device using the software. Open Source software uses a different type of licence aimed at ensuring the software’s development and royalty free distributionPreamble(foreword) of the problem/Topic
Open source - the source availability model used by free and open source software (FOSS) - and closed source are two approaches to the distribution of software.Under the closed source model source code is not released to the public. Close maintained by a team who produces their product in a compiled executable state, which is what the market is allowed access to. Microsoft, the owner and developer of Windows and Microsoft Office, along with other major software companies, have long been proponents of this business model. Although in August 2010,
Microsoft interoperability general manager Jean Paoli said Microsoft "loves open source" and its anti-open source position was a mistake. The FOSS model allows for able users to view and modify a product's source code. Common advantages cited by proponents for having such a structure are expressed in terms of trust, acceptance, teamwork and quality. A non-free license is used to limit what free software movement advocates consider to be the essential freedoms. A license, whether providing open source code or not, that does not stipulate the "four software freedoms", are not considered "free" by the free software movement. A closed source license is one that limits only the availability of the source code. By contrast a copyleft license claims to protect the "four software freedoms" by explicitly granting them and then explicitly prohibiting anyone to redistribute the package or reuse the code in it to make derivative works without including the same licensing clauses. Some licenses grant the four software freedoms but allow redistributors to remove them if they wish. Such licenses are sometimes called permissive software licenses.An example of such a license is the BSD license which allows derivative software to be distributed as non-free or closed source, as long as they give credit to the original designers.
FOSS can and has been commercialized by companies such as Red Hat, IBM, Novell, Oracle, Mozilla Foundation, VMware and others.Proprietary software
The primary business model for closed-source software involve the use of constraints on what can be done with the software and the restriction of access to the original source code. This can result in a form of imposed artificial scarcity on a product that is otherwise very easy to copy and redistribute. The end result is that an end-user is not actually purchasing software, but purchasing the right to use the software. To this end, the source code to closed-source software is considered a trade secret by its manufacturers.FOSS
FOSS methods, on the other hand, typically don't limit the use of software in this fashion. Instead, the revenue model is based mainly on support services. Red Hat Inc. and Canonical Ltd. are such companies that give its software away freely, but charge for support services. The source code of the software is usually given away, and pre-compiled binary software frequently accompanies it for convenience. As a result, the source code can be freely modified. However, there can be some license-based restrictions on re-distributing the software. Generally, software can be modified and re-distributed for free, as long as credit is given to the original manufacturer of the software. In addition, FOSS can generally be sold commercially, as long as the source-code is provided. There are a wide variety of free software licenses that define how a program can be used, modified, and sold commercially (see GPL, LGPL, and BSD-type licenses). FOSS may also be funded through donations.2. Related work/ Existing systems/concept :
Open source software is software whose source code is published and made available to the public, enabling anyone to copy, modify and redistribute the source code without paying royalties or fees. Open source code evolves through community cooperation. These communities are composed of individual programmers as well as very large companies. Examples of open-source software products are:Programming languages:
PHP - Scripting language suited for the web
PYTHON - Scripting language for window applications
RUBY - Scripting languageOS:
GNU Project — “a sufficient body of free software”
Linux — operating system kernel based on Unix
NetBSD - operating system derived from Unix
OpenBSD — operating system derived from Unix
FreeBSD — operating system derived from Unix
OpenSolaris — Unix Operating System from Sun Microsystems
Symbian — real-time mobile operating system

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Abstract:
Software development is undergoing a major change from being a fully closed software development process towards a more community driven open source software development process. The word Open Source itself signifies “Source Open to all”. It basically describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Subsequently, the new phrase "open-source software" was born to describe the environment that the new copyright, licensing, domain, and consumer issues created.
Open source software generally allows anyone to create modifications of the software, port it to new operating systems and processor architectures, share it with others or market it.TheDebian Free Software guidelines are used to determine whether the software is Open Source or not. Several open source software licenses have qualified within the boundaries of the Open Source Definition. The most prominent and popular being the GNU General Public License (GPL). While open source distribution presents a way to make the source code of a product publicly accessible, the open source licenses allow the authors to fine tune such access.
Open source is a good way for business to achieve greater penetration of the market. It has also helped build developer loyalty as developers feel empowered and have a sense of ownership of the end product.Tech Giants like Google have completely adopted the open
source development approach giving Open Source Software a completely new horizon.
In terms of security, open source may allow hackers to know about the weaknesses or loopholes of the software more easily than closed-source software. It is also difficult to design a commercially sound business model around the open source paradigm.
In this paper we will discuss the various aspects along with pros and cons of the Open Source Software Development model with relation to Open Source Operating Systems.Introduction:
The term “open source” frequently refers to softwaredevelopment process that relies on the contributions ofgeographically dispersed developers via the Internet.A primary strength of open source software is its leverage of outside innovation.It has been saidthat open source software continues to receive immenseattention worldwide because of the success of products suchas Linux and Apache, the uneasiness about the Microsoftmonopoly in the software industry and the increasingly strong opinion that “classical” approaches to softwaredevelopment are failing to provide a satisfactory answer tothe increasing demand for effective and reliable softwareapplication.
The Open Source movement has touched almost every sphere of software technology that we know today. It is becoming a key driver of the software industry, with key industry players continuing to invest more heavily in open source projects.Open source projects provide unique opportunities for less experienced software engineers to gain experience solving real-world problems. Growth of Open Source:
Open source software is having a major impact on the software industry and its production processes. Many software products today contain at least some open source software components. Some commercial products are completely open source software. In some markets, for example, web servers, open source software holds a dominant market share.
Open source software today has a strong presence in industry and government. Walli et al. observe: “Organizations are saving millions of dollars on IT by using open source software. In 2004, open source software saved large companies (with annual revenue of over $1 billion) an average of $3.3 million. Medium-sized companies (between $50 million and $1 billion in annual revenue) saved an average $1.1 million. Firms with revenues under $50 million saved an average $520,000.”
Commercially, the significance and growth of open source is measured in terms of revenue generated from it. Lawton and Notarfonzo state that packaged open source applications generated revenues of $1.8 billion in 2006. The software division of the Software & Information Industry Association estimates that total packaged software revenues were $235 billion in 2006. Thus, open source revenue, while still small compared to the overall market (~0.7%) is not trivial any longer.
However, open source software today is part of many proprietary (closed) source products, and measuring its growth solely by packaged software revenue is likely to underestimate its size and growth by a wide margin. To measure the growth of open source we need to look at the total growth of open source projects and their source code.
Several studies have been undertaken to measure the growth and evolution of individual open source software projects. Most of these studies are exemplary, focusing on a few selected projects only. The exception is Koch’s work, which uses a large sample (>4000 projects) to determine overall growth patterns in open source projects, concluding that polynomial growth patterns provide good models for these projects . Such work is mostly motivated by trying to understand how individual open source projects grow and evolve.
The work presented in this paper, in contrast, analyses the overall growth of open source, aggregating data from more than 5000 active and popular open source projects to determine the total growth of source code and number of projects. Assuming a positiv¬¬¬e correlation between work spent on open source, its total growth in terms of code and number of projects, and the revenue generated from it, understanding the overall growth of open source will give us a better indication of how significant a role open source will play in the future.
Understanding overall open source growth helps more easily answer questions about, for example, future product structures (how much code of an application is likely to be open source code?), labour economics (how much and which open source skills does a company need?), and revenue (what percentage of the software market’s revenue will come from open source?).
The work presented in this paper shows that the total amount of open source code and the total number of projects is growing exponentially. Assuming a base of 0.7% of the market’s revenue, exponential growth is a strong indicator that open source will be of significantly increasing commercial importance. The remainder of this paper discusses our study and validates the hypothesis of exponential growth of open source.
One of the limiting factors in the continued expansion of open source development is the lack of software engineers with experience in open source methodologies.
A common belief is that there is no appropriate support available for this class of software, while an alternative argument is that due to the active involvement of Internet users in online forums, there is in fact a large resource available that communicates and manages the management of support requests. The research model of this empirical investigation establishes and studies the relationship between open source software support requests and online public forums.Pros and Cons:
Software experts and researchers on open source software have identified several advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage for business is that open source is a good way for business to achieve greater penetration of the market. Companies that offer open source software are able to establish an industry standard and, thus, gain competitive advantage. It has also helped build developer loyalty as developers feel empowered and have a sense of ownership of the end product. Moreover less costs of marketing and logistical services are needed for OSS. It also helps companies to keep abreast of all technology developments. It is a good tool to promote a company's image, including its commercial products. The OSS development approach has helped produce reliable, high quality software quickly and inexpensively. Besides, it offers the potential for a more flexible technology and quicker innovation. It is said to be more reliable since it typically has thousands of independent programmers testing and fixing bugs of the software. It is flexible because modular systems allow programmers to build custom interfaces, or add new abilities to it and it is innovative since open source programs are the product of collaboration among a large number of different programmers. The mix of divergent perspectives, corporate objectives, and personal goals speeds up innovation. Moreover free software can be developed in accord with purely technical requirements. It does not require thinking about commercial pressure that often degrades the quality of the software. Commercial pressures make traditional software developers pay more attention to customers' requirements than to security requirements, since such features are somewhat invisible to the customer.
It is sometimes said that the open source development process may not be well defined and the stages in the development process, such as system testing and documentation may be ignored. However this is only true for small (mostly single programmer) projects. Larger, successful projects do define and enforce at least some rules as they need them to make the teamwork possible. In the most complex projects these rules may be as strict as reviewing even minor change by two independent developers.
Not all OSS initiatives have been successful, for example, SourceXchange and Eazel. Software experts and researchers who are not convinced by open source’s ability to produce quality systems identify the unclear process, the late defect discovery and the lack of any empirical evidence as the most important problems (collected data concerning productivity and quality). It is also difficult to design a commercially sound business model around the open source paradigm. Consequently, only technical requirements may be satisfied and not the ones of the market. In terms of security, open source may allow hackers to know about the weaknesses or loopholes of the software more easily than closed-source software. It is depended of control mechanisms in order to create effective performance of autonomous agents who participate in virtual organizations.Open Source vs. Closed Source:
The debate over open source vs. closed source (alternatively called proprietary software) is sometimes heated.
One source of conflict is related to economics: Making money through traditional methods, such as sale of the use of individual copies and patent royalty payment (generally called licensing), is more difficult and in many ways against the very concept of open source software.
Some closed-source advocates see open source software as damaging to the market of commercial software. This is one of the many reasons, as mentioned above, that the term free software was replaced with open source — because many company executives could not believe in a product that did not participate economically in a free-market or mixed-market economy.
The counter to this argument is the use of open source software to fuel the market for a separate product or service. For example:
Providing support and installation services; similar to IT Security groups, Linux Distributions, and Systems companies.
Using the software as a stepping stone to sell a higher-end product or service; e.g., OpenOffice.org vs. StarOffice.
Cost avoidance / cost sharing: many developers need a product, so it makes sense to share development costs (X Window System and the Apache web server)
Since open source software is open, defects and security flaws are more easily found. Closed-source advocates argue that this makes it easier for a malicious person to discover security flaws. Further, that there is no incentive for an open-source product to be patched. Open-source advocates argue that this makes it easier also for a patch to be found and that the closed-source argument is security through obscurity, which this form of security will eventually fail, often without anyone knowing of the failure. Further, that just because there is not an immediate financial incentive to patch a product, does not mean there is not any incentive to patch a product. Further, if the patch is that significant to the user, having the source code, the user can technically patch the problem themselves. These arguments are hard to prove. However, research indicates [22] that the open-source software - Linux - has a lower percentage of bugs than some commercial software